Sarkozy may have to surrender de Gaulle’s vision of Europe

Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel meet in Paris today for talks that could decide the fate of the euroFabrizio Bensch/Reuters

A spectre is haunting Nicolas Sarkozy as he strives this week to clinch an historic pact with Germany and save Europe’s single currency with a new fiscal union.

The President, who meets Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris today, yearns to live up to the spirit of Charles de Gaulle, the predecessor who redeemed France’s honour after German occupation and imposed Gallic leadership on the new European Community.

For all his bravado as euroland’s co-governor with Ms Merkel, Mr Sarkozy is struggling to make the most of a weak hand to save the Gaullist model laid down by the general a half a century ago. That would mean keeping the eurozone as a club of nation states with the big leaders calling the shots and not…